10 Really Smart People Who Did Really Dumb Things

I think we can all agree that large bills racked up at strip clubs should never be placed on the company credit card. Robin Lynne Gibson/The Image Bank/Getty Images

Robert McCormick was CEO of an Internet technology company Savvis, but that position didn't prevent him from making a colossal blunder in the common sense department.

McCormick went to an exclusive "gentlemen's" club -- appropriately named Scores -- and managed to ring up a $241,000 tab on his company credit card [source: Maull]. Yes, we said the company credit card. Scores is known for its high prices: $10,000 lap dances, bottles of champagne that cost thousands of dollars, and -- McCormick claims -- for fraud.

When McCormick received the extravagant bill, he disputed almost all of the charges, telling American Express that he rang up no more than a paltry $20,000. Scores countered that the club has a policy in place to verify any charge over $10,000. They take cardholder's fingerprints and even have the customer call their credit card company to verify the charges over the phone. After two years without payment, and McCormick unable to produce any documentation showing fraud, American Express sued McCormick for the money [source: Maull].

Savvis, McCormick and American Express eventually settled the case confidentially and out of the courtroom, but not before McCormick resigned from the company over the scandal [source: Rivera].